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On either side of a rectangular, off-white canvas, thirteen wavy, almost parallel lines, each in a different color, drift and drip from either short end of the canvas down toward the bottom center. The lines vary in thickness and many are separated by narrow white spaces, but sometimes the lines bump or drip into their neighbors. Most of the colors to our left are warm, with buttercup yellow, papaya and fire orange, pea green, crimson red, and magenta. To our right, most of the colors are cool with pine and forest green, navy blue, burgundy red, and one lemon-yellow line. The largest portion of the composition, though, is the V-shaped white space left in between each bank of thirteen lines.

Morris Louis

Beta Kappa, 1961

Not on View

Medium

acrylic on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 262.3 x 439.4 cm (103 1/4 x 173 in.)

framed: 265.5 x 442 x 4.4 cm (104 1/2 x 174 x 1 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Marcella Louis Brenner

Accession Number

1970.21.1

Artists / Makers

Morris Louis (artist) American, 1912 - 1962

Image Use

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Provenance

The artist's wife, Marcella Louis Brenner; gift 1970 to NGA.

Associated Names

Brenner, Abner, Mrs.

Exhibition History

1976: Morris Louis, Major Themes & Variations, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1976-1977, no. 11, repro.

2014: Make it New: Abstract Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, 1950-1975, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, 2014, no. 9, repro..

Bibliography

1978: King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 119, pl. 76.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 195, repro.

1980: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 19, repro.

1985: Upright, Diane. Morris Louis: The Complete Paintings, A Catalogue Raisonné,.New York, 1985: 226, no. 422, repro. (frontispiece).

1988: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 23, repro.

1991: Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 314, color repro.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 228, repro.

1992: Strick, Jeremey. "Notes on Some Instances of Irony in Modern Pastoral." Studies in the History of Art 36 (1992): 198-199, repro. no. 1.